Justine PETERSEN Building Assets. Changing Lives. Credit Report Basics and Definitions Justine PETERSEN Credit Building Training

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Alyson Merritt
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1 Justine PETERSEN Building Assets. Changing Lives Credit Report Basics and Definitions Justine PETERSEN Credit Building Training

2 Included Topics Who reports to the credit bureaus Statute of Limitations Types of Inquiries Definition of an Active Line of Credit Difference Between a 30 day late and a past due Collections vs. Charge off

3 Account Information: Who Reports to the Credit Bureaus Large creditors who offer loans and credit cards Credit cards and loans coming from banks, credit unions and dealerships. Small lenders like Buy-Here, Pay-Here or Rent-to-own places might not report

4 Account Information: Who Doesn t Report Cell phone companies, utility companies (in most states) and landlords don t report positive/active payment history. They will report defaulted payments once it goes to collections

5 Know the Report Statue of Limitations Open accounts in good standing Closed accounts in good standing Late or missed payments Collections or charge offs Indefinitely 10 years from date of closure 7 years from date of 1 st delinquency 7 years from date of charge off Bankruptcy 10 yrs. (Chap 7); 7 years (Chap 13) Civil judgment Foreclosure Tax Liens Inquiries Depends on state statue 7 years from date of foreclosure 7 years from paid date or no limit if not paid 2 years

6 Inquiries Two main types of inquiries 1. Soft or consumer inquiries: credit check in which it is not being reviewed by a lender. Ex: when a consumer checks his/her own credit sites might include: annualcreditreport.com, credit karma, freecreditscore, etc These inquiries don t hurt the credit score.

7 Inquiries Two main types of inquiries 2. Hard inquiry: This is when a consumer requests a lender to check the credit usually due to a credit application like a credit card, car loan, mortgage loan, and more. Hard inquiries do have an impact on the credit score and can be anywhere from 2-5 points (sometime less and sometimes more) Their impact can last 2-3 months and then the client will rebound. Why do hard inquiries hurt the credit score: because the client is shopping around for credit and they are at a risk if approved will they pay back on time?

8 More on inquiries: Inquiries A client can shop around for hard inquiries but only on specific loans Car loans, student loans, business loans, etc... = days (14 days to be safe) Mortgage loans = 30 days If they go to 30 different car lenders within 10 days, all 30 inquiries will show up on the credit report but it will only bring the score down once.

9 Inquiries

10 Definition of an Active Line of Credit An Active Installment (loan) : - Has a Balance - Has a monthly payment - Is not closed - A car loan that was paid off last month is no longer active - A student loan in deferment/forebearance is not active = no payments are being made monthly - A collection/charge-off will never be active, even if monthly payments are being made.

11 Definition of an Active Line of Credit An Active Revolving (credit card): Doesn t need to have balance or payment A payment has been made in the past 6 months (date of last activity) It s verified by the creditor every month A credit card with no balance and is closed is not active A credit card that hasn t been verified by the credit bureaus in 6-12 months is probably closed and is not active.

12 Payment History Past Due vs 30 Day Late A past due on an active line of credit hurts the credit score as much as a 30 day late would hurt a credit score. But if the client gets caught up with the past due before the creditor reports them 30 days late, the next time the on time payment is reported by the creditor the score will go back up (like the client was never past due). If the client goes from past due to 30 days late then the score will stay low. See next slide for an example of a 30 day late payment and a past due.

13 Payment History Late payment Late payment: client was 30 days late (indicated by the 2) in 9/12 Past Due Past due: is currently $174 past due but as of 1/2012 client had paid on time (indicated by the 1)

14 Charge offs vs. collections Definition of charge off: * A declaration by the original creditor that they (the creditor) are unlikely to collect the debt. This declaration gives the creditor a tax deduction on the debt *A charge-off is always from a creditor that reports as an active line of credit on the report (Ex: a mainstream credit card) you would not see a cell phone bill as a charge off because the cell phone company doesn t report positive payment history. *If there is a balance, most likely the client still owes it. *Charge off = profit and loss write off

15 Charge offs vs. collections Definition of Collection: A defaulted debt that came from a creditor that most likely doesn t report to the credit bureaus as an active line of credit.

TIP: Make sure this information is correct. A wrong address or phone number could be a mistake or a sign of identity theft.

TIP: Make sure this information is correct. A wrong address or phone number could be a mistake or a sign of identity theft. Reading a Sample Credit Report This sample report shows what kind of information might appear on your own credit report, also called a consumer disclosure statement, from the 3 major Credit Reporting Agencies